Electric terminal block



' March 11, 1930.

L. w. SERRELL 15750346 ELECTRIC TERMINAL BLOCK Filed April 30, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet l i'uunu noun znnnufl INVENTOR M UPPER OVEN HEATER liema/WJF/Tfl/ LOWER OVEN HEATER B March 11, SERRELL ELECTRIC TERMINAL BLOCK Eiled April 30, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Lemewi IV. 5 7

March 11, 1930. L SERRELL 1,750,246

ELECTRIC TERMINAL BLOCK Filed April so, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 All i i @HF I l; W W I I .J .1

I INVENTOR 1567721152 Wierrell Patented 11, 1930 UNITED/STATES PATENT OFFICE LEMUIE W. SEBBELL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO SERELCO, INCL, OF YORK,

N. Y., A CORPORATION 01 DELAWARE ELECTRIC TERMINAL BLOCK 5 clude a heater element which is placeable at any one of several operative positions in the oven of the range and which when placed in an operative position automaticall makes the necessary electrical connections or supplying current to the heater element. In

electric ranges of this type as heretofore constructed so far as I am aware, the electrical connections to the heater unit has been made in various ways, for example by using a set of socket connections for each operative position of the heater element, and in some instances by using conductor bars in the walls of the range and providing clip contacts on the heater element for engagement with theconductor bars to complete the electrical connections. In these and other forms of construction there has been difiiculty in operating the range because of the uncertainty of the proper registration of the members making the electrical connections due to the parts becomin bent or being otherwise out of place and failing to register. Furthermore, heretofore ranges of this type have been so more or less complicated as to make the cost of manufacture and also the expense of operation and maintenance so great as to cause them to be luxuries.

The object of my present invention is the provision of an electric terminal block adapted for use in a range of the type specified and in which the parts are standardized to materially reduce the cost of production and in which the parts are assembled so as to be readily replaceable to maintain the up-keep or service in maintenance of the range at a minimum, and also'one which is made to operate on the ordinary lighting circuits as employed in buildings whereby the cost of operation is also aslittle as possible. To this end the range in which the terminal block is adapted for use includes a shell, a lining which is insulated therefrom and provides an oven chamber, a heater element which is placeable at any one of several positions in the oven and is fitted with pins or plug contacts for conveying the current to the coils forming part of the heater element, and the terminal block -includes a plurality of conductor bars each removably mounted in a conductor bar casing which is detaohably connected to the oven lining and a corresponding number of lead terminals permanently fixed in the oven lining and each adapted to make contact with a conductor bar when the conductor bar casing is secured in position, the conductor bars being constructed so as to include yielding socket contacts to cooperate with the pin contacts carried by the heater element in each one of its operative positions. The range may also include a heater element placed in the bottom thereof and to which the current is supplied in a manner similar to that in which the current is supplied to the heater element to which reference has hereinbefore been made, and also there may be incorporated in the range a fixed heater element adapted to compensate for the heat losses when the said heater elements are disconnected so as to cause the range to operate as a fireless cooker, as shown and described in Letters Patent No. 1,612,065 dated December 28, 1926. The range may also be provided in the top thereof with a quick boil heater, made for example as shown and described in Letters Patent No. 1,567,870, December 29, 1925. In the drawing Figure 1 is a front elevation of an electric range in which my invention is incorporated, showing the door removed tor the purpose of better illustration.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the electrical connections to and in the heater element which is placeable in various positions in the oven of the range.

Fig. 3 is a similar view of the heater element which is placed in the bottom of the front member of the conductor casing showing some of the conductors in place therein,

and

-- Fig. 9 is a section on line 9 9, Fig. 6.

otherwise, and the front thereof may be pro-..

vided with hinges 14, 15 in which a door is mounted for closing the otherwise open front end of the oven. In the lower portion or bottom of the oven there is a heater element 16 and on the top of the range there is a quick boil heater 17, to both of which reference will be hereinafter more particularly made.

In the oven and on opposite sides thereof there is a series of shelf brackets or heater unit supports Band 19 each adapted to carry a heater unit 20. As illustrated, this heater unit comprises a frame which is preferably rectangular and is provided at its ends with support bars 22 and 23 adapted to be received between and to be supported by any one of the oppositely disposed shelf brackets 18 and 19 in order to place this heater unit in any one of a plurality of positions in the oven of the range. In order to facilitate placing the heater unit in position and removing the same therefrom the front portion of the frame may be fitted with handles 24. The heater unit frame is fitted with a plurality of sets of heater coil supports for maintaining the heater coils in position therein. As illustrated, these heater coil supports are similarly constructed and each one preferabl comprises a pair of sheet metal strips 25 an 26 provided in similar positions with bosses 27 and 28 so that when placed together they are adapted to receive and maintain in each of the recesses provided by these bosses an insulating member having sets of lugs extending from the opposite faces thereof through apertures provided therefor in the bosses 27 and 28. The-insulating members 29 have holes extending through the same and the lugs extending therefrom through which holes the heater coils are threaded as will be hereinafter described. These sets of heater coil supports are provided in spaced positions in their upper and lower edges with notches 30 and 31 in which rods 32 and 33 are received in order to maintain the heater coil supports in position in the frame of the heater unit, the rods 32 and 33 extending across the frame of the heater unit and being suitabl fixed in position therein. As illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawing, the outer sections of the heater coil supports may be provided with portions similarly constructed but at right angles thereto to carry the looped portions of the heater coils. As illustrated,

this heater unit is fitted with three coils indicated at 34, 35 and 36 respectively, and to which reference will be hereinafter moreparticularly made.

At its inner side the heater element 20 is fitted with a terminal block 37. This may be connected to the frame of the heater unit by bolts 38 or otherwise. Connected in this ter minal block there are pin terminals 39, 40, 41 and 42, these being four in number for the construction herein illustrated, although as will be understood, for other purposes any necessary number of these terminals may be employed. Each pin terminal as indicated in Fig. 7 includes a shoulder 43 which when the coil 34 being threaded through an aperture 48 in the inner part of the terminal block and connected to the heat coil terminal 46 by this screw 47. It will be understood that the other pin terminals, namely 39, and 41 are similarly mounted in the terminal block and each connected to a heat coil in the same or a similar manner.

The invention relates particularly to a conductor bar casing and a lurality of conductor bars therein remova ly connected to the oven lining and adapted to cooperate with the heater element 20 in any of the several positions in which it may be placed.

This conductor bar casing includes a front wall 49 and a back wall 50 both of which are made of insulating material and are detachably connected to the back wall 51 of the oven lining by means of screws 52 and nuts 53 or otherwise. This conductor bar casing is preferably rectangular and interiorly the outer wall 49 thereof is provided with a plurality of longitudinally placed grooves, two of which are indicated in Fig. 8 at 54 and 55. The inner face of the front wall is therefore ribbed and the ribs between which the groove 55 extends are indicated at 56 and 57. The adjacent outer portion of the front wall also forms a rib which with the rib 56 defines the groove 55. In each of these grooves there is a conductor bar and as the conductor bars are similarly constructed, but one of them will be specifically described. Each conductor bar comprises a channel member 58 preferably of sheet metal with the outer walls slightly diverging so as to conform with the flaring walls of the groove in which the channel fits. In spaced positions this channel member 58 is fitted with posts 59 each of which is slotted longitudinally of the channel. Each conductor member also includes a pair of similarly formed oppositely disposed strips of conductor metal mounted in the slotsin the posts and adapted to receive and make contact with the pin terminals of the movable heater element. Each of the strips of which these parts of the conductor bars are made is provided with a flat section 60 adjacent curved sections 61 and 62 and a contact section 63 intermediate of the curved sections 61 and 62. These strips are employed in pairs in oppositely disposed positions so that the strip complementary to that just described also includes spaced flat sections 64 adjacent curved sections 65 and 66 and a curved contact section 67 intermediate of the curved sections 65 and 66. When placed together these complementary strips have the adjacent faces of the flat sections abutting against each other so as to be received in and supported by the slotted posts 59. As will now be understood, the portions of these strips between each set of posts include the curved sections 61 and 65 and 62 and'66 which act as springs and the intermediate sections 63 and 67 of preferably different curvature which function as a socket for the reception and contact of one of the pin terminals on the movable heater element.

The front wall 49 of the conductor bar casing is provided with a plurality of apertures 68, each of which in the outer face of the wall 49 is beveled as indicated at 69, and in corresponding positions each of the channels 58 is provided with an aperture 76. In these positions the outer wall of each channel is preferably provided with a lip 71 defining the aperture therein and lying adjacent the inner end of the corresponding aperture 68 in the outer wall 49. By this means as will be understood the pin terminals of the heater element are guided to lace to pass through the apertures 68 by the eveled outer portions thereof, and to position in the corresponding socket sections 63, 67 of the contact bars by the lip71, it being understood that the spring portions 61 and 65, 62 and 66 of the corresponding socket members 63 and 67 permit the socket member to yield to receive the pin and yieldingly maintain the same in contact therewith. Each one of the conductor bars as hereinbefore described at one end thereof is provided with a terminal contact 72 which. may be riveted to the chan nel of the conductor bar or otherwise similarly connected thereto.

As illustrated, each of the conductor bars as hereinbefore described is utilized to convey the current to and from the upper heater of the ran e. A set of similar conductor bars is emp oyed to convey the current to and from the lower heater of the range or the heater placed at the bottom of the oven. Each of these latter conductor bars is similar to the conductor bars described, but as illustrated, are shorter in length inasmuch as it plete a circuit by being inserted to position in the socket portion of the conductor bar 73. As illustrated in Fig. 7, the pin 75 is con nected to a heat coil terminal 76, the lead 7 7 extending to the coil being secured to the terminal 76 by a screw 78 or otherwise.

Permanentl connected in the range there is a terminal lock 79. This may be secured therein in any suitable position. As illustrated, however, this block is connected to the. inner surface of the oven lining at the back or rear portion thereof. In this block 79 there is secured a plurality of terminals, the number of which depends of course, upon the number of the conductor bars and the circuits for producing any predetermined heating efiect. In the block, however, there is one terminal for each of the conductor bars employed. In Fig. 7 of the drawing, two of these terminals are illustrated and designated at 80 and 81. Each of these terminals as well as the other terminals associated with this block is provided with a head adapted to function as a contact for the terminal contact of the corresponding conductor bar. The inner wall of the oven lining and the back wall of the condoctor bar casing are recessed to suitably receive the outer portion of the block 79 through which the contact heads of the terminals 80 and 81 extend so that these heads lie within the channels provided in the conductor bar casing, and the parts are so positioned that when the conductor bar casing is secured in place the terminals of the conductor bars automatically bear against the heads of the terminals in the block 79. For example as illustrated in Fig. 7, the terminal contact 72 bears against the head of the terminal 80 and the terminal contact 72' bears against the head of the terminal 81. The terminal 80 may be secured in position by being turned down in a lead terminal 83 to which a lead wire 8d is connected by a screw 85, and similarly, the terminal 81 is secured in place by being turned down in a lead wire terminal 86 to which a lead wire 87 is connected by a screw 88 or otherwise.

The terminals in the block 79 are permanentl connected with suitable sets of termina s preferably placed below the door in the front of the range. As illustrated, for

of the various elevations in the range. The terminal 89 is connected to a terminal in the block 79 which is associated with aconductor bar 93. The terminal 90 is connected to the terminal 80in the block 79 which is associated with a conductor bar 94 to which the terminal contact 72 is connected. In a similar manner the terminal 91 is connected to a terminal in the block 79 which is associated with a conductor bar 95, and the terminal 92 with a terminal associated with a conductor bar 96. When the heater element is in any one of its operative positions the pins 39, 40, 41 and 42 as indicated in Fig. 2, contact with the conductor bars 93, 95, 96 and 94 respectively so.

that for example when the terminals 89 and 90 are connected to a source of supply the heat coils 34 and 36 will be utilized in multi 1e irrespective of the position in which the eater unit may be placed, and when the terminals 91 and 92 are connected to a source of supply the heat coil 35 will be utilized alone.

The service contacts or terminals for the lower heater 16 are placed in the lower front portion of the ran e and are indicated at 97, 98, 99, 100, 101 an 102, the terminals 97 and 98 being a split terminal. One side 97 of this split terminal is connected to the terminal 100 which is connected to the terminal 81 in the block 79 with which a conductor bar 106 is associated, this conductor bar 106 corresponding with the conductor bar 73 with which the pin 75 in the terminal block of the lower heater is adapted to make contact. The terminal 99 is connected to a terminal in the block 79 which is associated with a conductor bar 103. The terminal 101 is connected to a terminal in the block 79 associated with a conductor bar 105, and the terminal 102 is connected to a terminal in the block 79 which is associated with a conductor bar 104. The other pin terminals mounted in the terminal block 74 of the lower heater are indicated at 107, 108 and 109 and these are adapted to engage respectively with the conductor bars 103, 104 and 105. The lower heater element 16 as illustrated in Fig. 3 contains three coils and may be constructed in a manner similar to that hereinbefore described in connection with the heater element which is movable to various positions in the oven, and these heat coils are indicated at 110, 111 and 112. These coils are so connected to the pin terminals of the heater that by connecting the terminals 97, 98 and 99 to a source of supply the coils 110 and 112 are utilized in multiple to produce a relatively high heat; by connecting the terminals 99 and 100 to the source of supply the heat coil 110 is used alone to produce a moderate heat; by connecting the terminals 100 and 101 to the source of supply the coils 110 and 112 are connected in series to produce a low heat; and by connecting the terminals 101 and 102 to a source of supply all three nals 107, 108, 109

coils 110 111 and 112 are connected in series to rovide a very low heat.

s illustrated, there is another set of service terminals in the lower-front portion of the ran e. These are indicated at 113, 114, 115 an 116 and are adapted to be utilized for connecting the source of an ply to the coils in the quick boil heater 17 p aced at the top of the range, but as these features form no part of my resent invention they are not particularly il ustrated and do not require any specific description.

mm the fore oing it will be understood that the heater eliment 16 is placed in position inthe lower portion or at the bottom of the oven of the range and the contacts for connecting the coils to the service terminals is made by the engagement of the pin termian passin throu hthe apertures in the outer wall of t e con uctor bar casing and engaging with the conductor bars in the lower portion of the casing. Similarly, by placing the heater element 20 in any of the various positions it is adapted to assume within the oven, the pin terminals 39, 40, 41 and 42 pass throu h the corresponding sets of openings in t e front wall of the conductor casing and enter and engage the correspondin socket portions of the conductor bars in t e u per portion of the conductor bar casing, t e terminal pin 42 engaging the socket ortion 63 and 67 of the corresponding con uctor bar and the other pins similarly engaging the other conductor bars in order to complete the circuit to the heat coils through these conductor bars, and their respective terminals to the service terminals in the lower front portion of the range. It will also now be understood that the service terminals and the terminal block 79 and the connections between the same are fixed in position in the range forming permanent parts thereof, and that theconductor bars are removable from and replaceable in the conductor bar casing, and when in position therein and the conductor bar casing fixed in place they automatically make the connections with the service terminals, for example by the contacts between the terminal 72 and the head of the terminal 80, and the terminal 72 and the head of the terminal 81. Also as will be apparent, the

pin terminals of the heater elements are readily replaceable therein and the connections between the same and the heat coils easily made.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an electric terminal block, a conductor comprising a channel member, a plurality of posts mounted in the channel member, and a plurality of similarly formed strips oppositely placed and mounted in the said posts, each of the said strips having flat sections at intervals for connection with the posts and curved sections adjacent the flat sections with a secket section intermediate oi? the curved sections, the said socket section being adapted to receive and engage a terminal for the completion of an electric circuit,

2. in an electric terminal block, a conductor comprising a channel member, a plurality of spaced split posts mounted channel member and, a pair of si formed strips oppositely placed, each 01 said strips having fiat sections at to be received in the split portions posts and curved sections adjacent the sections with a socket section intermediate of the curved sections, the said socket section being adapted to receive and engage terminal for completing an electric circuit 3.11s an electric terminal block, a support, plate having a groove therein, a conductor comprising a pair or" similarly formed strips oppositely placed to compose spaced resilient sockets, means for securing the said strips in position in the said groove in said plate, means for connecting said plate to the support, the said plate being provided with a series of apertures corresponding to and adapted to register with the said resilient socket contacts, and a terminal forthe said conductor, each of the said resilient socket contacts being adapted to receive and engage a terminal for completing an electric circuit.

4. In an electric terminal block, a support, a plate having a plurality of grooves therein, a conductor in each groove, each conductor including a channel, posts mounted in spaced positions in the channel, and a conductor comprising a pair of similarly formed strips oppositely placed and mounted in the said posts to compose spaced resilient socket contacts, the plate having a plurality of apertures therein each adapted to register with one of the resilient socket contacts, each of which is adapted to receive and engage a terminal after the same has passed through an aperture in the plate to complete an electric circuit, and means for removably con necting said plate to said support.

5. In an electric terminal block, a support, a plate, means for removably connecting the plate to the said support, said plate having a groove therein, a conductor in the said groove, said conductor comprising a pair of similarly formed oppositely placed strips, each having relatively straight sections and intermediate curved sections which are adapted to form resilient socket contacts, the said plate having a plurality of apertures therein each adapted to register with a socket contact, and a terminal for the said condoctor, the said terminal being adapted to make an electrical connection with a service terminal when the said plate is connected to the said support.

6. In an electric terminal block a fixed support, a plate, means for removably connecting the plate to the fixed support, the said plate having a groove therein, a conductor in the said groove, said conductor comprisa pair of sim' arly formed oppositely ced strips each having spaced stra t ecticns, curved sections intermediate oi eight sections and socket sections mediate of the curved sections, the said hate havin a plurality of apertures therein 1. adapted to register with one of the socket sections of the conductor, and a 'termit one end or the conductor adapted to cor with a service terminal when the plate is connected to the said base.

2 an electric terminal block, a fixed supcert, a plate having a plurality of grooves therein, means for removably connecting the plate to the fixed support, a. conductor in each of the said grooves, each conductor comprising a plurality of spaced posts and a pair of similarly formed oppositely disposed strips each having spaced straight sections, curved sections and socket sections intermediate of the curved sections, the said plate having a plurality of apertures therein each adapted to register With one of the said socket sections of the conductors, and a resilient terminal at the end of each oi the said conductors adapted when the said plate is connected to the said base to bear against a service terminal. I

8. In an electric terminal block, a fixed support, a plate having a plurality of grooves therein, means for removably connecting the plate to the said support, a conductor in each of the said grooves, each conductor comprising a channel member, posts secured in spaced positions in the said channel member and a pair of similarly formed oppositely spaced strips having spaced straight sections to he received in slots provided therefor in the said posts, adjacent curved sections torming springs, and socket sections intermediate of the curved sections adapted to receive a pin of a plug, the said plate having a plurality of spaced apertures therein each registering with a socket section of a conductor, and a spring terminal connected at one'end of each of the said conductors and adapted when the plate is secured to the support to bear against a service terminal carried by the said support.

Signed by me this 26th day of April, 1926.

LEMUEL W. SERRELL. 

